Mechanism for cutting sheet material



1 June 30, 1931.

L. KIRSCHBRAUN MECHANISM FOR CUTTING SHEET MATERIAL Filed Oct. 8, 1928 .2 Sheets-Sheet 1 mw Aan INVENTOR lmzerEhsc/zbraan BY MJQ MZW ATTORNEY June 30, 1931. 1.. KIRSCHBRAUN MECHANISM FOR CUTTING SHEET MATERIAL Filed Oct. a, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Zeszer lfizuc/zbrauzz ATTORNEY Patented June 30, 1931 UNITED STATES? PArau oF-mcr:

LESTER KIIRSCHEBRAUN, LEONIA, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO THE PATENT AND LICENSING CORPORATION, OF BOSTON, MASSACHU- SET'IS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS MECHANISM. FOR CUTTING SHEET MATERIAL Application filed October 8, 1928. Serial No. 311,017.

This invention relates to a mechanism for cutting sheet material, and finds one particular adaptation in the asphalt shingle industry wherein shingles or shingle strips, are cut from a sheet of prepared roofing material.

More specifically, my invention has reference to the production of shingles or shingle strips made from a base of felted or similar fibrous material, saturated with a waterproofing substance, and coated on one or both of its surfaces with waterproofing material, which lat ter may have partiallyembedded therein a layer of crushed, mineral, such as slate or the like, which is intended to mask the waterproofing layer from the deteriorating action of the sun, and to also provide a decorative finish for the product. Prepared roofing as thus briefly described, is being manufactured at the present time in enormous quantities, a large part of the output consisting of sh1n-' gles, or so-called strip shingles, comprising a slab section of predetermined length formed with shingle simulatin tabs of any desired exposed areas, resembling somewhat the 'appearance of a thatched roof, or a roof of broken slate.

My invention is' particularly concerned with the provision of simple means for continuouslyproducingshing'les or strips having irregular butt edges,"the irregularity in the configuration of the tab edges of successive shingles as they are produced, varying continuously through-a period or cycle sufliciently large to enable the shingles to be packaged substantially in the order in which they are severed from the-sheet so that when laid up on the roof the regular straight line. appearance now common to the ordinary square butt shingles will be avoided to the end that the roof may take on the more desirable appearance of irregularity or uneveness, and

thereby also accentuate the thickness of the exposed butt edges of the shingles.

In carrying out my invention, I provide means for slitting the sheet longitudinally along a sinuous, broken or other irregular line, to form separate strips or sections having complimentary edges along the line of severance. The means for producing this irregular line of cut may be designed to repeat, at stated intervals, the cpnfiguration of 'the longitudinal slit.- 1 provide also means for then severing from the separate sections the shingles or strip shingles of desired length, and inaccordance with one of the novel features of my invention, I co-ordinate the last named means with the-longitudinal slitting device in such a way that repetition in the identity of configuration of the exposed edges of the elements produced, occurs only at relatively long intervals, during which period a suflicieutly large number of shingles of varying butt or tab edge config urati'on has been produced, to permit the shingles .to be packed directly from the ma ch'ine so that when applied on the roof they wi 1 form; in the completed roof, areas that deviate in pleasingly irregular fashion from the straight line efiects usual in this type of One embodiment of my invention will be hereinafter described more fully and is shown on the accompanying drawings, in which A Figure 1 represents a section through the cutting mechanism, 1

Figure 2 is a plan through part of the mechanism shown in Figure 1, as viewed along line 22 of Figure 1,

Figures 3 and 4 illustrate,,graphically, va-

'riations that ma beachieved in accordance with the princip es of my invention,

. Figure 5 shows, in perspective, a pair of complimentary shingles having irregular butt edges as produced by my invention, and

Figure 6 illustrates other forms of shirigles that may be severed from the sheet.

Figure 7 represents a-plan .view of a fragment of a roll with staggered cutting elements.

Referring in detail to the drawings, the,

, means of a circular slitting knife 21 formed on a drum or cylinder 22 and co-operating with a suitable bed roll 23, mounted above the cylinder 22. The sheet may be supported by a frame or table 24, slotted as at 25, to accommodate the confronting faces of the cutting roll and its cooperating bed roll. The cutting roll 22 is fixed to a rotatable shaft 22a and the roll 23 is similarly fixed to a shaft 4 23a. The knife blade 21 is disposed around ries o dimensloned in accordance with the desired 31 and intervenin configurations other than that shown the cylinder 22 substantially at the mid-point thereof, and may comprise either one continuous blade having an undulating cutting edge or a series of blades spaced around the periphery in such manner as to produce a slit of broken configuration in the sheet 20 as the latter passes between the cutting roll and its cooperating bed roll 23, to thereby provide separate, but complementary sections 20a, and 20b.

Mounted adjacent the rolls 22 and 23 are a pair of cooperating rolls 26 and 27 which are adapted to sever from the separate sections 20a and 20b, shingle strips of the desired length. Of this pair of rolls, the roll 26 constitutes the cutting roll and the roll 27 the bed roll. The cutting roll may also be equipped with means for cutting slots in the separate sections, so as to provide the finished strips with shingle simulating tabs. In the particular embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2, the cutting roll 26 is designed to sever from the separate sections, shingles as shown in Figure 5, each having a plurality of tabs rectan ar tab-defining slots 32, the butt e ges of t e elements being of irregular-configuration conforming to the position of the knife 21. It will be, understood, of course, that the knife 21 'may be arranged for producing-longitudinal slits of ures 2 and 5. Thus, the knife may com rise a series of irregularly staggered smaller knives 70, 71 and 72 as shown in Figure 7 so as to produce an effect like that illustrated in Fig ure 6, wherein the butt edges 33b of the shingles 30?) cut from sheet, are shown as fol-. lowing an irregular broken line. In order to cut the slots 32 in the shingle strips, the roll 26 mag be formed on its periphery with a serectangular die-pieces 36 spaced and size of the tabs and tab-defining slots. I

in Fighave shown the several dieieces 36 as being of e ual dimensions an equally spaced around t e roll so as to form slots identical in size and spaced evenly apart, but it will be understood, of course, that these die-pieces may be of varying dimensions and spaced at varying intervals around the periphery of the roll 26, so as to produce shingle strips hav-. ing differently dimensioned tabs and tab-defining slots. A pair of knives 37 extend from a point near the middle of the ends of one of the die-pieces 36 to the end of the roll 26, these knives 37 being adapted to sever the successive strips at their ends, from the separate sections 20a and 2012 respectively. The length of the strips produced will obviously depend upon the circumferential dimension of the roll 26. In actual practice, for example, this roll may be dimensioned so as to produce strips which are 36 inches in length.

In accordance with my invention, the mechanism for severing the successive strips from the separate sections 20a and 206 as produced by the longitudinal slit formed by the knife 21, is related to the means for producing this longitudinal slit in such a way that the two operate more or less out of phase with one another. In order to accomplish this result, I construct the roll carrying the knife\21 of a different diameter than that of the roll carrying the severing knives 37. These two rolls are then arranged to rotate at different axial speeds such that their peripheral speed will be substantially equal so that the web of roofing may be fed continuously therethrough at the desired speed of travel. In Figures 1 and 2 I- have shown, for purposes of illustration, the roll'22 as being somewhat greater in diameter than the roll 26. 'In actual practice, however, where the roll 26 is designed to sever stri s 36 inches in length, the maximum bene ts of my invention may be attained by constructing the roll 22 of a diameter such that the circumference of the knife 21 will be only slightly greater than the circumference of the roll 26. 'Advantageously, for example, the circumference of the cutting knife 21 may be 37 inches where the roll 26 is 36 inches in circumference. Itwill be seen, therefore, that by rotating the rolls 22 and 26 at the same peripheral speed, the severance of the successive strips 30 from the separate sections of the web, by the knives 37 will be out of phase with the sinuous or irregular slit formed by the. knife 21. Thus, assuming any point along the slit produced by the knife 21, as a starting. point, it will be seen that before the knife 21 makes one complete revolution in its rotation, the knives 37 will have severed fromthe sheet a strip of a length approximately one inch less than the linear extent of one complete cycle of the lon itudinal slit formed in the sheet by the knife 21. As the rolls continue in their rotation,

- slit corresponding to the starting po nt above referred to, whereafter' the period or cycle will repeat itself. ,In the specific example mentioned, it will require approximately 37 complete revolutions of the roll 26 before there is a repetition in the cycle and hence,

a series of approximately thlrty-seven. pairs of strips are severed from the sheet, the tabedge configuration of each one differing more or less from that of its neighbor; moreover" the opposed pairs of strips as out from the separate sections 20a, 20b, being complementary will, when both are placed in the same relative position with. respect to their butt 7 edges, present butt edges which are slightly di erent in configuration. Hence in reality, a series of approximately seventy-four shingles each of different butt edged configuration, will be produced before there is any repetition in theseries.

In order to rotate the rolls 22 and 26 at the properly related axial speeds any suitable form of transmission may be'employed. I have shown, forexample, in Figures 1 and 2, a pulley 40 mounted on a shaft 41 and driven by a belt or chain 42 from any convenient source of power. The shaft 41 may have fixed thereon a gear 43'meshing wit a larger gear 44 aflixed to the shaft 22a.

' The shaft 22a also has aflixed thereto a driving gear-wheel or pulley 46, which is connected by a chain or belt 47 to a gear wheelor pulley 48 fixed to the shaft 26a upon which the cutting roll 26 ,is mounted. The.

.driven pulley 48 should be sufiiciently smaller than the driving pulley 46 to enable the roll 26 to rotate at an axial speed sufliciently in excess of the axial speed of the roll 22, to

I equalize the peripheral speed of the two rolls. This is shown in more or less exaggerated form in Figures 1 and 2 for purposes of clear illustration. In this way the sheet may be continuously and uniformly fed through the cut mechanism and severed, as already described. The severed strips may be delivered to a conveyor 50, one end of which is located adjacent the cutting roll 26,

and from the opposite end of which the strips may be stacked as at 51, directly in theorder inwhich they are delivered. from the cutting mechanism, to be packaged when a suflicient number have been accumulated.

In Figures 3 -and 4 I have shown by graphicillustration, variations that may be produced in carrying out my invention merely by varying. the relative'size of the cutting rolls'22 and 26. Thus, asshown in Figure 3 the longitudinal curved or irregular slit is indicated at X, the letters A indihere illustrated, the distance between a pair of adjoining points A, representing-one complete revolution of the roll 22, is slightly less than three times asgreat as the distance between a pair of transverse slits 60, represen ting the end edges of the severed strips.

The frequency with which identically configured strips will be produced, would depend again upon the mathematical relationship between the length of the strips produced, and the linear distance between successive points representing one. complete revolution of the central slitting knife.

Similarly, in Figure 4, I have shown graphically an effect that mi ht be produced by the use of a cutting kni e 22 smaller in diameter than the cutting knife 26. In this figure, the distance between the points B indicate the interval within which the circular knife makes one complete revolution while the transverse lines 60?) indicate again the cutting knives-37. In this figure, again, by

selecting a roll 22 of a diameter less than the distance between the lines 60?) and which is not evenly divisible into this distance, a great variety of strips may be successively cut from the sheet before there is any recurrence of strips of identical butt edge cons figuration. i

It will be understood that while I have described my invention in connection with the manufacture of the so-called strip shingles, the novel features herein disclosed may also be em loyed with advantage in the production 0 individual shingles having irregular butt edges, the irregularity being more or less different in a considerable num-,

ber of successive shingles cut from the sheet:

the sheet transversely thereof at predetermined intervals, said named means operating out of phase'with the first named means.

2. Mechanism for cuttin sheet material, comprising a rotatable kni e for slitting the sheet longitudinally along a sinuous line, said knife bei of a predetermined circumferential dime sion, whereby to form the sheet into separate sections each having a sinuous edge the pattern of which is repeated at in tervals corresponding to the circumferential dimension of said knife, and means for severing said sections transversely thereof at intervals differing in linear extent from the first named intervals.

3. Mechanism for cutting sheet material, comprising a rotatable knife for slitting the sheet longitudially along a sinuous line, said knife being of a predetermined circumferential dimension, and a rotatable cutting roll for severing the sheet transversely thereof, said cutting roll being of a circumferential size different from that of the said rotatable slitting knife.

4. Mechanism for cutting sheet material, comprising a rotatable knife for slitting the sheet longitudinally along a sinuous line, said knife being of a predetermined circumferential dimension, and a rotatable cutting roll for severing the sheet transversely thereof at predetermined regular intervals differing in linear dimension from that corresponding to the circumferential dimension of said knife. 1 i

5. Mechanism for cutting sheet material, comprising a rotatable knife for slitting the sheet longitudinally along a sinuous line, said knife being of a predetermined circumferential dimension, and a rotatable cutting roll for severing the sheet transversely thereof, said cutting roll being of a circumferential size different from that of the said rotatable slitting knife and operating at the same peripheral speed as said knife.

6. Mechanism for cutting sheet material, comprising in combination, a rotatable knife for slitting the sheet longitudinally alon a sinuous line, and a rotatable cutting roll for severing the sheet transversely thereof, said roll being smaller in circumference than said knife butoperating at equal peripheral speed therewith.

7. Mechanism for cutting sheet material,

comprising in combination, a rotatable knife for slittin the sheet longitudinally along a sinuous me, and a rotatable cutting roll for severing the sheet transversely. thereof, said knife and roll being of different circumferential dimensions and operating at different axial speeds such as to equalize the peripheral speed of the knife and roll, said roll being provided with means for forming spaced transverse slots in the sheet. 7

8. Mechanism for cutting sheet material, comprising in combination, a rotatable knife sinuous line, and a rotatable cutting roll for severing the sheet transversely thereof, said knife and roll being of different circumferfor slitting the sheet longitudinally along a w 

